NC LIVE

What NC LIVE does

NC LIVE is North Carolina's statewide library cooperative, founded in 1997 and hosted at NC State University Libraries in Raleigh. The organization operates as a strategic collaboration across four statewide systems: the NC Community College System (58 institutions), the UNC System (17 campuses plus Area Health Education Centers), the NC Independent Colleges & Universities (NCICU; 36 private institutions), and all public libraries coordinated through the State Library of NC. NC LIVE negotiates and licenses electronic research and learning resources on behalf of 200+ member libraries, providing aggregated access to more than 1.8 billion items spanning full-text articles, eBooks, streaming videos, digitized newspapers, and language-learning tools.

The cooperative runs a technology stack that includes the Summon discovery service delivered through a six-year ProQuest agreement, a Hosted Proxy service for remote authentication, a Drupal-based primary website, and a LibGuides-based website template offered to member libraries. Specialized offerings include the HomeGrown Collection of 4,400+ locally-published ebook and audiobook titles delivered through BiblioBoard, the Open Education North Carolina (OENC) open-textbook initiative (now concluded, hosted OER collection remains accessible), and a completed North Carolina Heritage Index proof-of-concept using Solr to federate metadata across participating library collections. NC LIVE also provides professional development through an annual conference, regional workshops, online tutorials, and webinars, and operates an Impact Campaign of patron success stories.

The business model is funded by recurring state legislative appropriations channeled through the UNC System, NC Community College System, and State Library of NC, supplemented by private contributions from NCICU institutions. Total operating budget is approximately $4.3 million annually, of which roughly $3.6 million is spent on licensed content and $0.7 million on operations. NC LIVE reports negotiating 80-90% off list prices and saving the state $47.8 million in 2025 against $3.5 million of equivalent member-library spend. All resources are provided free to North Carolinians via library card or institutional credentials. The 6-person staff is led by Executive Director Claire Leverette; governance is provided by a Librarians' Council with representatives from the four Communities of Interest and multiple advisory committees.

Name

NC LIVE

Legal name

NC LIVE

Website

https://nclive.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1997

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

NC LIVE is North Carolina's statewide library cooperative, founded 1997 and hosted at NC State University Libraries, serving 200+ member libraries with negotiated access to 1.8 billion digital research and learning resources across public, community college, UNC, and independent college systems.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Library Cooperative Services

NAICS

Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Learning Content Bundling & Subscription Passes (All-Access Libraries) (MPACALAL)

Keywords

• Library cooperative services
• Digital library resources
• Electronic research databases
• Library content licensing
• Consortium content access

Headquarters

HQ city

Raleigh

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel

Revenue model

1. State Legislative Funding: NC LIVE is funded by recurring state legislative funds via the budgets of the UNC System, the NC Community College System, and the State Library of NC. Budget is approximately $4.3 million annually with $3.6 million on content and $0.7 million on operations.
2. Private Contributions: Private contributions from NC Independent Colleges & Universities (NCICU) member institutions.
3. Member Services (Free to Patrons): All NC LIVE resources are provided free to North Carolinians through their local library. Patrons access via library cards with no direct charges.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

NC LIVE is a library cooperative that licenses and provides aggregated digital content (1.8 billion items including articles, ebooks, streaming videos, newspapers, and language learning tools) to 200+ member libraries across North Carolina. The organization negotiates bulk pricing, manages authentication and discovery infrastructure, and delivers professional development and technical support to public libraries, community colleges, UNC system campuses, and independent colleges and universities.

Product overview

NC LIVE is a unified statewide library cooperative platform providing aggregated access to over 1.8 billion digital resources (articles, eBooks, streaming videos, newspapers, language learning tools) for North Carolina's 200+ member libraries across four communities of interest: public libraries, community colleges, UNC System, and NC Independent Colleges & Universities. The core platform integrates discovery (Summon), authentication (Hosted Proxy), and website services (LibGuides) alongside a curated collection of licensed databases from ProQuest, Infobase, and other providers. The portfolio includes specialized collections like the HomeGrown Collection of locally-published titles and the Open Education North Carolina initiative providing open textbooks. Resources span business development, healthcare/nursing, career readiness, K-12 education, and STEM disciplines.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NC LIVE Core Platform
• Summon Discovery Service
• Hosted Proxy Service
• Website Service
• HomeGrown Collection
• Business and Market Research Databases
• Health and Medical Research Databases
• Films on Demand Video Collection
• Training and Professional Development
• MARC Records Service
• Open Education North Carolina (OENC)

Quantifiable outcome

• Saved North Carolina $47.8 million in 2025 by negotiating 80-90% off list prices
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Internet ArchivecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010Collaboration to provide North Carolina access to the Open Library eBook Lending Collection. Member libraries contributed books to be scanned by the Internet Archive, which were converted into downloadable ebooks. NC LIVE libraries contributed over 1,000 titles to the collection.
• Alliance for Library ImpactcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerConsulting partnership to help facilitate the strategic planning process, working with a Strategic Planning Team made up of library staff representatives from NC LIVE's four Communities of Interest.
• ProQuestcoreTechnology or IntegrationSix-year agreement providing Summon discovery service to member libraries, aggregating NC LIVE content, locally licensed content, and physical catalog into unified search results. Also provides ProQuest Central and other research databases.
• BiblioBoardcoreTechnology or IntegrationPlatform provider for the HomeGrown Collection of locally-published ebooks and audiobooks. Supports unlimited simultaneous access with no holds or checkout limits.
• OpenStaxmajorTechnology or IntegrationPrimary provider of open textbooks through the Open Education North Carolina (OENC) initiative. OpenStax textbooks were frequently adopted through OENC grants for courses including Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, Sociology, and more.
• Lumen LearningmajorTechnology or IntegrationProvider of open educational resources through OENC initiative, including Waymaker and Candela textbooks adopted for various courses.
• OER CommonsmajorTechnology or IntegrationHosts the Open Education North Carolina Collection, a curated hub of open educational resources for North Carolina faculty and students.
• UNC SystemcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of four Communities of Interest and primary funder through state legislative funds. 17 campuses plus Area Health Education Centers participate in NC LIVE.
• NC Community College SystemcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of four Communities of Interest and primary funder through state legislative funds. All 58 community colleges participate in NC LIVE.
• NC Independent Colleges & Universities (NCICU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of four Communities of Interest providing both governance input and private funding. 36 private colleges and universities participate through NCICU organization.
• Library of North Carolina / State Library of North CarolinacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerState library agency providing funding through state legislative funds and managing public library participation in NC LIVE.
• NC Digital Heritage CentermajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerContent partner for the Heritage Indexing proof-of-concept project, providing metadata feeds from digital library assets for aggregated searching.
• UNC Chapel HillmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerContent partner for the Heritage Indexing project, contributing digital library assets to the aggregated metadata search platform.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Market position

Strengths4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/nclive
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@nclivetv
• Facebookfacebook.com/NCLIVEOnlineLibrary
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nc-live-ncsu-libraries
• Instagraminstagram.com/ncliveonlinelibrary

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NC LIVE